The Experts Are Not Always Right

The Wall Street crash of 1929 was followed by the Great Depression. The crash came as a complete surprise to many “experts.” A month before the crash, Charles Mitchell, former Chairman of the National City Bank, announced, “The industrial condition of the United States is absolutely sound.”

Prominent economist Ervin Fisher said nine days before the crash, “I expect to see the stock market a good deal higher than it is today within a few months.” Even the Harvard Economic Society Bulletin announced, “A depression like 1920-21 is clearly out of the question.”

Finally, non-economist Calvin Coolidge put the times in correct perspective when the former president observed, “The country is not in good condition.” (From The Blunder Book by H. Hirsch Goldberg)

And the experts could be wrong in many other areas, as well. In 1949, Popular Mechanics magazine stated, “Computers in the future may weigh no more than one-and-a-half tons.”

I personally remember reading a detailed account of why landing on the moon would be impossible, and that if we did succeed in landing, leaving the moon would be out of the question.

Along these lines, I’m always intrigued with the number of “unbreakable” records that continue to be broken. The truth is, records are made to be broken, so maybe you will be a record-breaker who will do the “impossible” some day.

I suspect that all of us, at one time or another, have been told we couldn’t do something only to learn later that with commitment, preparation and intense effort, we could do far more than even we had imagined. The message is don’t always listen to the experts — listen to your heart. Give it your best shot, and even if you don’t make it all the way, you will still have “won” because best effort always makes you a winner. See you at the top!

To find out more about Zig Ziglar and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com. Subscribe to Zig Ziglar’s free e-mail newsletter through [email protected]